The Jewish Political Tradition

Volume I: Authority

Chosen as a finalist for the 2000 National Jewish Book Awards in the Thought Category given by the Jewish Book Council

This book launches a landmark four-volume collaborative work exploring the political thought of the Jewish people from biblical times to the present. Each volume includes a selection of texts—from the Bible and Talmud, midrashic literature, legal responsa, treatises, and pamphlets—annotated for modern readers and accompanied by new commentaries written by eminent philosophers, lawyers, political theorists, and other scholars working in different fields of Jewish studies. These contributors join the arguments of the texts, agreeing or disagreeing, elaborating, refining, qualifying, and sometimes repudiating the political views of the original authors. The series brings the little-known and unexplored Jewish tradition of political thinking and writing into the light, showing where and how it resonates in the state of Israel, the chief diaspora settlements, and, more broadly, modern political experience.

This first volume, Authority, addresses the basic question of who ought to rule the community: What claims to rule have been put forward from the time of the exodus from Egypt to the establishment of the state of Israel? How are such claims disputed and defended? What constitutes legitimate authority? The authors discuss the authority of God, then the claims of kings, priests, prophets, rabbis, lay leaders, gentile rulers (during the years of the exile), and the Israeli state. The volume concludes with several perspectives on the issue of whether a modern state can be both Jewish and democratic. Forthcoming volumes will address the themes of membership, community, and political vision.

Among the contributors to this volume:

Amy Gutmann

Moshe Halbertal

David Hartman

Moshe Idel

Sanford Levinson

Susan Neiman

Hilary Putnam

Joseph Raz

Michael Sandel

Allan Silver

Yael Tamir

Michael Walzer is UPS Foundation Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Menachem Lorberbaum is senior lecturer in the department of Jewish philosophy at Tel Aviv University. Noam Zohar is senior lecturer in the department of philosophy at Bar Ilan University. Yair Lorberbaum is lecturer in the faculty of law at Bar Ilan University. All four editors are research fellows at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem.